All that glitters is -- well, you know

Can there be a cautionary tale for Massachusetts in the ongoing saga of Revel, the shimmering resort casino on the Atlantic City Boardwalk?

Certainly, and the Massachusetts Gaming Commission that will approve up to three resort casinos and one slot parlor in the Bay State should pay close attention.

Less than a year after the $2.4 billion hotel casino became the first new casino to open in New Jersey's "Queen of Resorts" since 2003, Revel announced this week it will seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy late next month.

The prepackaged bankruptcy will erase about two-thirds of Revel's $1.5 billion in debt by converting more than $1 billion of it into equity for lenders, according to the Associated Press.

Revel has been cursed almost from the start. Even as the surrounding states of Delaware, Pennsylvania and New York embraced casino gambling and Atlantic City's market share dwindled, Revel pressed on with an ambitious project that aimed to raise the bar on the Atlantic City resort experience and targeted well-heeled travelers and business clients, rather than the blue-aired quarter slot players that arrive at the resort town in dozens of buses each day. It had to halt construction when it ran out of money in the middle of the recession and Morgan Stanley pulled out of the project. It finally got completed after state tax incentives were approved in 2011, according to AP.

Instead of setting a new standard for A.C.

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, it's been at or near the bottom in terms of gambling revenue even as the entire market in 2012 suffered its sixth straight year of declining numbers. And we wonder if Revel's learned anything along the way. A reservation for a midweek room in the middle of March was going for $129 plus fees and taxes on Friday morning, while a comparable room at the Trump Taj Mahal could be had for $80.

It makes us wonder whether Massachusetts, like Revel, is getting into the game when the deck is stacked against it. Opening a gambling palace no longer is equated with getting a license to print money. To the south, Connecticut's casinos have endured some lean years recently. To the North, New Hampshire's governor wants to get in the casino game too. At some point the market will be as saturated as it is in Atlantic City.

But the Bay State's chips are already on the table. Casinos are coming to Massachusetts. Now, the pressure is on the Gaming Commission more than ever to bet on winners when it approves casino proposals. It must back companies that have a proven track record in the industry, not long shots.

But as Revels' owners will tell you, there's no such thing as a sure thing.

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